Part 139

A fierce naval fight, April 24, 1293, off St. Mahé, on the coast of Brittany, between English and French fleets, both of which were put afloat without open authority from their respective governments. The French were beaten with a loss of 8,000 men and 180 ships.

_C. H. Pearson, History of England during the Early and Middle Ages, volume 2, chapter 13._

SAINT MALO: Abortive English expeditions against.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1758 (JUNE-AUGUST).

SAINT MARK, The winged lion of.

See LION OF ST. MARK, and VENICE: A. D. 829.

SAINT MARKS, Jackson's capture of.

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1816-1818.

SAINT MICHAEL, Knights of the Order of, in France.

"Louis XI. [of France] determined on instituting an order of chivalry himself. It was to be select in its membership, limited in its number, generous in its professions, and he fondly hoped the Garter and Fleece would soon sink into insignificance compared to the Order of Saint Michael. The first brethren were named from the highest families in France; the remaining great feudatories, who had preserved some relics of their hereditary independence, were fixed upon to wear this mark of the suzerain's friendship. But when they came to read the oaths of admission, they found that the Order of St. Michael was in reality a bond of stronger obligation than the feudal laws had ever enjoined. It was a solemn association for the prevention of disobedience to the sovereign. … The brotherhood of noble knights sank, in the degrading treatment of its founder, into a confederation of spies."

_J. White, History of France, chapter 7._

SAINT MICHAEL, Knights of the Order of, in Portugal.

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1095-1325.

SAINT MICHAEL AND SAINT GEORGE, The Order of.

A British Order of Knighthood, founded in 1818, "for the purpose of bestowing marks of Royal favour on the most meritorious of the Ionians [then under the protection of Great Britain] and Maltese, as well as on British subjects who may have served with distinction in the Ionian Isles or the Mediterranean Sea."

_Sir B. Burke, Book of the Orders of Knighthood, page 107._

SAINT OMER: A. D. 1638. Unsuccessful siege by the French.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1635-1638.

SAINT OMER: A. D. 1677. Taken by Louis XIV.

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1674-1678.

SAINT OMER: A. D. 1679. Ceded to France.

See NIMEGUEN, THE PEACE OF.

SAINT PATRICK, The order of.

An order of knighthood instituted in 1783 by George III. of England.

SAINT PAUL, Republic of.

See BRAZIL: A. D. 1531-1641.

SAINT PAUL'S SCHOOL.

See EDUCATION, RENAISSANCE: ENGLAND.

SAINT PETER'S CHURCH AT ROME.

"The first church which existed on or near the site of the present building was the oratory founded in A. D. 90, by Anacletus, bishop of Rome, who is said to have been ordained by St. Peter himself, and who thus marked the spot where many Christian martyrs had suffered in the circus of Nero, and where St. Peter was buried after his crucifixion. In 306 Constantine the Great yielded to the request of Pope Sylvester, and began the erection of a basilica on this spot, labouring with his own hands at the work. … Of the old basilica, the crypt is now the only remnant. … Its destruction was first planned by Nicholas V. (1450), but was not carried out till the time of Julius II., who in 1506 began the new St. Peter's from designs of Bramante. … The next Pope, Leo X., obtained a design for a church in the form of a Latin cross from Raphael, which was changed, after his death (on account of expense) to a Greek cross, by Baldassare Peruzzi, who only lived to complete the tribune. Paul III. (1534) employed Antonio di Sangallo as an architect, who returned to the design of a Latin cross, but died before he could carry out any of his intentions. Giulio Romano succeeded him and died also. Then the pope, 'being inspired by God,' says Vasari, sent for Michael Angelo, then in his seventy-second year, who continued the work under Julius III., returning to the plan of a Greek cross, enlarging the tribune and transepts, and beginning the dome on a new plan, which he said would 'raise the Pantheon in the air.' … The present dome is due to Giacomo della Porta, who brought the great work to a conclusion in 1590, under Sixtus V. … The church was dedicated by Urban VIII., November 18th, 1626; the colonnade added by Alexander VII., 1667, the sacristy by Pius VI., in 1780. The building of the present St. Peter's extended altogether over 176 years, and its expenses were so great that Julius II. and Leo X. were obliged to meet them by the sale of indulgences, which led to the Reformation. The expense of the main building alone has been estimated at £10,000,000. The annual expense of repairs is £6,300."

_A. J. C. Hare, Walks in Rome, chapter 15._

_ALSO IN: H. Grimm, Life of Michael Angelo, chapters 15-16._

{2792}

SAINT PETERSBURG: The founding of the city.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1703-1718.

SAINT PRIVAT, OR GRAVELOTTE, Battle of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST).

SAINT QUENTIN: Origin of the town.

See BELGÆ.

SAINT QUENTIN, Battle and siege of (1557).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.

Battle of (1871).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1870-1871.

SAINT SEBASTIAN, Siege and capture of (1813).

See SPAIN: A. D. 1812-1814.

SAINT STEPHEN, The Apostolic order.

This, the Hungarian national order of knighthood, was founded by Maria Theresa, on the day (May 5, 1764) when the Archduke, afterwards the Emperor Joseph II., was crowned King of Rome.

SAINT STEPHEN, The Crown of. The crown of Hungary.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 972-1114.

SAINT STEPHEN'S CHAPEL. The Chamber of the House of Commons.

See WESTMINSTER PALACE.

SAINT THOMAS OF ACRE, The Knights of.

"This was a little body of men who had formed themselves into a semi-religious order on the model of the Hospitallers. In the third Crusade, one William, an English priest, chaplain to Ralph de Diceto, Dean of S. Paul's, had devoted himself to the work of burying the dead at Acre, as the Hospitallers had given themselves at first to the work of tending the sick. He had built himself a little chapel there, and bought ground for a cemetery; like a thorough Londoner of the period, he had called it after S. Thomas the Martyr; and, somehow or other, as his design was better known, the family of the martyr seem to have approved of it; the brother-in-law and sister of Becket became founders and benefactors, and a Hospital of S. Thomas the Martyr of Canterbury, of Acre, was built in London itself on the site of the house where the martyr was born. … They [the knights] had their proper dress and cross: according to Favin their habit was white, and the cross a full red cross charged with a white scallop; but the existing cartulary of the order describes the habit simply as a mantle with a cross of red and white. … The Chronicle of the Teutonic knights, in relating the capture of Acre, places the knights of S. Thomas at the head of the 5,000 soldiers whom the king of England had sent to Palestine, and Herman Corner, who however wrote a century later, mentions them amongst the defenders of Acre. We know from their cartulary that they had lands in Yorkshire, Middlesex, Surrey, and Ireland."

_W. Stubbs, Seventeen Lectures on the Study of Medieval and Modern History, lecture 8._

SAINT VALERY.

The port, at the mouth of the Somme, from which the fleet of William the Conqueror sailed for England, September 27, A. D. 1066.

SAINT VINCENT, Naval battle of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1797.

SAINTONGE, Origin of the name of.

See PICTONES.

SAIONES.

"The Saiones were apparently a class of men peculiar to the Ostrogothic monarchy [of Theodoric, in Italy]. More honoured than the Roman lictor (who was but a menial servant of the magistrate), but hardly perhaps rising to the dignity of a sheriff or a marshal, they were, so to speak, the arms by which Royalty executed its will. If the Goths had to be summoned to battle with the Franks, a Saio carried round the stirring call to arms. If a Prætorian Prefect was abusing his power to take away his neighbour's lands by violence, a Saio was sent to remind him that under Theodoric not even Prætorian Prefects should be allowed to transgress the law. … The Saiones seem to have stood in a special relation to the King. They are generally called 'our Saiones,' sometimes 'our brave Saiones,' and the official virtue which is always credited to them (like the 'Sublimity' or the 'Magnificence' of more important personages) is 'Your Devotion.' One duty which was frequently entrusted to the Saio was the 'tuitio' of some wealthy and unwarlike Roman. It often happened that such a person, unable to protect himself against the rude assaults of sturdy Gothic neighbours, appealed to the King for protection. … The chief visible sign of the King's protection, and the most effective guarantee of its efficiency, was the stout Gothic soldier who as Saio was quartered in the wealthy Roman's house."

_T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, book 4, chapter 7 (volume 3)._

SAJO, Battle of the (1241).

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1114-1301.

SAKKARAH, Necropolis of.

The most ancient and important cemetery of Memphis, Egypt.

_A. Mariette, Monuments of Upper Egypt, page 86._

SAKKARAH, Tablet of.

An important list of Egyptian kings, found by M. Mariette and now preserved in the Museum of Cairo.

_F. Lenormant, Manual of Ancient History of the East, book 3, chapter 1 (volume 1)._

SALADIN: The Empire of.

Among the revolutions which attended the breaking up of the empire of the Seljuk Turks was one that brought about the rise to power in Syria and Mesopotamia of a vigorous and capable soldier named Zenghi or Zengui. Zenghi and his son Noureddin acquired a wide dominion, with its capital, as it enlarged, shifting from Mossoul to Aleppo, from Aleppo to Damascus, and they were the first formidable enemies with whom the Christians of the Crusade settlements in Syria had to contend. The dynasty of sultans which they founded was one of those called Atabecks, or Atabegs, signifying "governors of the prince." Having found an opportunity (A. D. 1162-1168) to interfere in the affairs of Egypt, where the Fatimite caliphs were still nominally reigning, Noureddin sent thither one of his most trusted officers, Shiracouh, or Shirkoh, a Koord, and Shiracouh's nephew, Saladin,—then a young man, much addicted to elegant society and the life of pleasure, at Damascus. Shiracouh established his master's authority in Egypt—still leaving the puppet caliph of the Fatimites on his throne—and he was succeeded by Saladin, as the representative of the sultan Noureddin, and grand vizier of the caliph. But in 1171, the latter, being on his death-bed, was quietly deposed and the sovereignty of the Abbaside caliph of Bagdad was proclaimed. "This great 'coup d'etat,' which won Egypt over to the Orthodox Mohammedan sect, and ultimately enabled Saladin to grasp the independent sovereignty of the country, was effected, as an Arab historian quaintly observes, 'so quietly, that not a brace of goats butted over it.'" {2793} Saladin had now developed great talents as a ruler, and great ambitions, as well. On the death of Nouraddin, in 1174, he was prepared to seize the sultan's throne, and succeeded, after a short period of civil war, in making himself master of the whole Atabeg dominion. From that he went on to the conquest of Jerusalem, and the expulsion of the Christians from all Palestine, except Tyre and a small strip of coast. By his defense of that conquest against the crusaders of the Third Crusade, and by the decided superiority of character which he evinced, compared with his Christian antagonists, Richard Cœur de Lion and the rest, Saladin acquired surpassing renown in the western world and became a great figure in history. He died at Damascus, in March, 1193, in his fifty-seventh year. The dynasty which he founded was called the Ayoubite (or Aiyubite) dynasty, from the name of Saladin's father, Ayoub (Job), a native Koord of Davin.

_W. Besant and E. H. Palmer, Jerusalem, chapter 16._

"Saladin gave no directions respecting the order of succession, and by this want of foresight prepared the ruin of his empire. One of his sons, Alaziz, who commanded in Egypt, caused himself to be proclaimed sultan of Cairo; another took possession of the sovereignty of Aleppo, and a third of the principality of Amath. Malek-Adel [called Seïf Eddin, the Sword of Religion, by which latter name, in the corrupted form Saphadin, he was known commonly to the crusaders], the brother of Saladin, assumed the throne of Mesopotamia and the countries in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates. The principal emirs, and all the princes of the race of the Ayoubites, made themselves masters of the cities and provinces of which they held the command. Afdhal [Almelek Alafdhal], eldest son of Saladin, was proclaimed sultan of Damascus. Master of Syria, and of the capital of a vast empire, sovereign of Jerusalem and Palestine, he appeared to have preserved something of the power of his father; but all fell into disorder and confusion." After some years of disorder and of war between the brothers, Malek Adel, or Saphadin, the more capable uncle of the young princes, gathered the reins of power into his hands and reunited most of the provinces of Saladin's empire. On his death, in 1217, the divisions and the disorder reappeared. The Ayoubite dynasty, however, held the throne at Cairo (to the dominion of which Palestine belonged) until 1250, when the last of the line was killed by his Mamelukes. The lesser princes of the divided empire were swept away soon after by the Mongol invasion.

_J. F. Michaud, History of the Crusades, books 9, 12-14._

See, also, JERUSALEM: A. D. 1149-1187.

SALADIN, The Tithe of.

"In England and in France, in order to defray expenses [of the Third Crusade], a tax called the Tithe of Saladin, consisting of a tenth part of all their goods, was levied on every person who did not take the Cross. … In every parish the Tithe of Saladin was raised in the presence of a priest, a Templar, a Hospitaller, a king's man, a baron's man and clerk, and a bishop's clerk."

_W. Besant and E. H. Palmer, Jerusalem, chapter 15._

SALADO, OR GUADACELITO, Battle of (1340).

See SPAIN: A. D. 1273-1460.

SALAMANCA, Battle of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-AUGUST).

SALAMANCA, University of.

See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL: SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.

SALAMIS, Cyprus, Battle of (B. C. 449).

See ATHENS: B. C. 460-449.

Battle of (B. C. 306).

See MACEDONIA: B. C. 310-301.

SALAMIS, Greece: B. C. 610-600. War of Athens and Megara for possession of the island.

See ATHENS: B. C. 610-586.

SALAMIS, Greece: B. C. 480. Great battle between Greeks and Persians.

See GREECE: B. C. 480.

SALANKAMENT, Battle of (1691).

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1683-1699.

SALCES, OR SALSAS: A. D. 1639-1640. Siege and capture by the French. Recovery by the Spaniards.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1637-1640.

SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1628. The first settlement.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1623-1629 THE DORCHESTER COMPANY.

SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1631-1636. Ministry and banishment of Roger Williams.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1636.

SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692. The Witchcraft madness.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692; and 1692-1693.

SALERNO, Principality of.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 800-1016.

SALERNO, School of Medicine.

See MEDICAL SCIENCE: 12-17TH CENTURIES.

SALIAN FRANKS, The.

See FRANKS: ORIGIN, ETC.

SALIC LAW: Start--------

SALIC LAW, The.

"A greatly exaggerated importance has been attributed to the Salic Law. You are acquainted with the reason of this error; you know that at the accession of Philippe-le-Long, and during the struggle of Philippe· de-Valois and Edward III. for the crown of France, the Salic law was invoked in order to prevent the succession of women, and that, from that time, it has been celebrated by a crowd of writers as the first source of our public law, as a law always in vigor, as the fundamental law of monarchy. Those who have been the most free from this illusion, as, for example, Montesquieu, have yet experienced, to some degree, its influence, and have spoken of the Salic law with a respect which it is assuredly difficult to feel towards it when we attribute to it only the place that it really holds in our history. … I pray you to recall that which I have already told you touching the double origin and the incoherence of the barbarous laws; they were, at once, anterior and posterior to the invasion; at once, German and Germano-Roman: they belonged to two different conditions of society. This character has influenced all the controversies of which the Salic law has been the object; it has given rise to two hypotheses: according to one, this law was compiled in Germany, upon the right bank of the Rhine, long before the conquest, and in the language of the Franks. … According to the other hypothesis, the Salic law was, on the contrary, compiled after the conquest, upon the left bank of the Rhine, in Belgium or in Gaul, perhaps in the seventh century, and in Latin. … I believe, however, that the traditions which, through so many contradictions and fables, appear in the prefaces and epilogues annexed to the law, … indicate that, from the eighth century, it was a general belief, a popular tradition, that the customs of the Salian Franks were anciently collected. … {2794} We are not obliged to believe that the Salic law, such as we have it, is of a very remote date, nor that it was compiled as recounted, nor even that it was ever written in the German language; but that it was connected with customs collected and transmitted from generation to generation, when the Franks lived about the mouth of the Rhine, and modified, extended, explained, reduced into law, at various times, from that epoch down to the end of the eighth century—this, I think, is the reasonable result to which this discussion should lead. … At the first aspect it is impossible not to be struck with the apparent utter chaos of the law. It treats of all things—of political law, of civil law, of criminal law, of civil procedure, of criminal procedure, of rural jurisdiction, all mixed up together without any distinction or classification. … When we examine this law more closely, we perceive that it is essentially a penal regulation. … I say nothing of the fragments of political law, civil law, or civil procedure, which are found dispersed through it, nor even of that famous article which orders that 'Salic land shall not fall to woman; and that the inheritance shall devolve exclusively on the males.' No person is now ignorant of its true meaning. … When, in the fourteenth century, they invoked the Salic law, in order to regulate the succession to the crown, it had certainly been a long time since it had been spoken of, except in remembrance, and upon some great occasion."

_F. Guizot, History of Civilization, volume 2 (France, volume 1), lecture 9._

ALSO IN: _W. C. Perry, The Franks, chapter 10._

_E. F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, book 2, number 1._

SALIC LAW: Applied to the regal succession in France.

Louis X., surnamed Hutin, king of France, died in 1316, leaving a daughter, Jeanne, and his queen with child. The late king's brother, Philip the Long, became regent; but when the queen bore a son and the child died, this Philip "hastened to Rheims, filled the Cathedral with his own followers, and compelled the archbishop to consecrate him King [Philip V.]. Thence he returned to Paris, assembled the citizens, and, in the presence of a great concourse of barons and notables of the realm, declared that no female could succeed to the crown of France. Thus began the so-called Salic Law of France, through the determined violence of an unscrupulous man. The lawyers round the throne, seeking to give to the act of might the sanction of right, bethought them of that passage in the law of the Salian Franks which declares 'That no part or heritage of Salic land can fall to a woman'; and it is from this that the law obtained the name of 'the Salic Law.'"

_G. W. Kitchin, History of France, volume 1, book 3, chapter 11, sections 1-2._

"In this contest [after the death of Louis X., as mentioned above], every way memorable, but especially on account of that which sprung out of it, the exclusion of females from the throne of France was first publicly discussed. … It may be fairly inferred that the Salic law, as it was called, was not so fixed a principle at that time as has been contended. But however this may be, it received at the accession of Philip the Long a sanction which subsequent events more thoroughly confirmed. Philip himself leaving only three daughters, his brother Charles [IV.] mounted the throne; and upon his death the rule was so unquestionably established, that his only daughter was excluded by the count of Valois, grandson of Philip the Bold. This prince first took the regency, the queen-dowager being pregnant, and, upon her giving birth to a daughter, was crowned king [Philip of Valois]. No competitor or opponent appeared in France; but one more formidable than any whom France could have produced was awaiting the occasion to prosecute his imagined right with all the resources of valour and genius, and to carry desolation over that great kingdom with as little scruple as if he was preferring a suit before a civil tribunal." This was King Edward III. of England, whose mother Isabel was the sister of the last three French kings, and who claimed through her a right to the French crown.

_H. Hallam, The Middle Age, chapter 1, part 1._

See, also, FRANCE: A. D. 1328-1339.

SALICE, Battle of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1809 (JANUARY-JUNE).

SALICES, Ad, Battle of.

See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 378.

SALINÆ.

A Roman town in Britain, celebrated for its salt-works and salt-baths. Its site is occupied by modern Droitwich.

_T. Wright, Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5._

SALINAN FAMILY, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SALINAN FAMILY.

SALISBURY, Gemot of.

William the Conqueror, while establishing feudalism in England, "broke into its 'most essential attribute, the exclusive dependence of a vassal upon his lord,' by requiring in accordance with the old English practice, that all landowners, mesne tenants as well as tenants-in-chief, should take the oath of fealty to the King. This was formally decreed at the celebrated Gemot held on Salisbury Plain, on the 1st of August, 1086, at which the Witan and all the landowners of substance in England whose vassals soever they were, attended, to the number, it is reported, of 60,000. The statute, as soon as passed, was carried into immediate effect."

_T. P. Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, page 55._

SALISBURY MINISTRIES, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1885; 1885-1886; and 1892-1893.

SALISHAN FAMILY, The.